Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 481
NATURAL SELECTION AND SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. The six include mandibles for cutting through the host's skin. They are blade-like tips which are enclosed within the proboscis and are protruded to its tip only when the mosquito requires a blood meal. Only then are they protruded through the outer tube to make a sharp surgical incision. . THE MOUTHPARTS OF A FEMALE MOSQUITO mandible maxilla labrum-epipharynx mandibles maxillae hypopharynx labium labellum. Then there is the labrum-epipharynx which during the act of biting, becomes a complete tube called the food canal through which blood is drawn. Whenever the mosquito bites, its saliva is transferred to the wound through the hypopharynx. . There is also a pump to suck and transport the blood into a sort of stomach and to channel the plant nectars separately to the gut. . Expert naturalists maintain that by the selective action of the Cardia, a thickened portion at the anterior end of the mid-gut, blood is admitted directly into the mid-gut. The remaining food such as vegetative juices are led into the diverticula and held there for a while. i 460